Even though it feels different, it still is right that our hands are intertwined. So I don't wiggle out of his grasp, letting our fingers stay connected. I keep my eyes ahead, not looking down at the hands like I want to.

We get to our 'house' and I see Prim and my mom sitting and talking with the boy Prim had been talking to above; the one who made her blush. They all turn to us as we enter.

"Katniss!" my sister's face breaks out in a huge grin and she stands to hug me. I let go of Gale's hand so I can hug her back. I take a deep inhale of her hair, smelling how wonderful she always smelled. Even when we did not have enough money for soap, she always smelled like Prim. That is all I need to commit her to my memory.

I kiss the top of her head as she pulls away and skips over to where mom is. "Katniss this is Raite," she motions to the young man sitting on the floor. He looks to be about a few years younger than me, but much larger.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet the girl who started the revolution," he smiles at me and something in my chest snaps, forcing me to smile back.

"And I'm glad to meet the boy who made my sister blush," my sister gapes at me in horror, but he just laughs. Prim seems to decide that I meant it as a harmless comment, so she sits down next to mom again. I walk over and plop down beside Raite. Gale shadows me and sits on my other side.

We all turn toward the doorway as we hear someone clear their throat. Haymitch stands there watching us all. "Is this some sort of circle group?" I turn back to the others and notice that he is right; we make a circle.

"Would you like to join us?" Prim invites, scooting closer to Gale. Haymitch nods and places himself upon the ground by my mom, who has yet to speak. I notice her eyes on Gale and I.

"As I was saying," Raite leans forward and interlocks his fingers in front of him. "I was on my normal patrol with a few others when I heard a scraping noise. We all decided to see what the noise was. It turns out that it was a group of three people. One had a broken leg, which was the scraping. We interrogated them, of course, and they told us that they came from District Seven."

"Their story, though, was not believable. We had been planning on killing them when someone else from that District was summoned and informed us that they were, in fact, from there. They had been a part of the revolution from the start."

I just stare at him. "So, you were just going to kill them? They were innocent!"

"I know," he leans back and observes me. "It was a close one."

Haymitch snorts his agreement. Prim is watching Raite with stars in her eyes and I doubt she even heard what he was saying. I glance over at Gale and see that he is watching me. My mom sits there, nodding.

"Am I the only one disturbed by this?" I shoot up from my perch on the floor. "We should not be doing things that way. You almost killed someone who is part of the revolution. Someone who came to us seeking refuge and you almost kill them because of their story?"

Everyone is surprised by my outburst. Everyone, it seems, except for Haymitch. He speaks to me as if we are having a conversation and I did not just yell at someone I just met. "Then what do you propose we do, Katniss?"

This is not my place. I am leaving tomorrow night so I can rescue Peeta. The chance of survival is low. And yet I cannot let them continue doing this.

"Investigate! Give them more than a few minutes to decide if they live or die! Find someone who is good at reading people and have them talk to the people. Later, if we think that they ARE spies, we can capture them. You do not have to go around killing everyone. This is not the Arena."

My eyes are flaring with the anger bubbling inside of me. Haymitch nods and my eyes are only on him, because everyone else in the room seems incapable of speech.

"Alright. I'll go run these ideas by Schorl," he stands, his eyes still on me. "If you can think of anyone who would be up to the task of talking to the people, find me." I know what he means. Exactly what he means. Me. But, I won't be here.

As he leaves everybody else seems broken from their trance. My mom stands and goes to her 'room'. Prim gives me a quick hug before walking towards the doorway. Raite smiles at me and I smile back again.

"Lovely meeting you," he sticks out a hand. I reach to grab it and he leans forward to whisper in my ear. "You have more strength than you think. Good luck."

While he meets Prim at the door, he looks back and smiles once more. Even though my chest tells me to, this time I do not smile in return.

Gale watches Raite leave and the turns to me, a small scowl turning into compassion. "What did he say?"

I wave it off, taking his hand and leading him to my room. "Nothing important. You want to stay with me tonight Gale?"

He crawls into my bed with me, snuggling up against my back and resting an arm around my waist. I fit with him so well. All of our angles connect as if they had been built to be put together. As he drifts off, I lay awake, the questions coming at a rapid rate. None of them I can answer. This time tomorrow I will be on my way to saving Peeta.

At some point Prim enters the room, getting into her own bed and falling asleep at once. My eyes remain closed, but I cannot fall asleep. So I wonder about Raite. I wonder if he knows, because he wished me good luck. I wonder what he meant by 'good luck'. And I wonder why I actually smile when he smiles at me, because that has not happened in a long time.